Profile

Profile

Larry Vernon Hedges

Biography

A national leader in the fields of educational statistics and evaluation, Larry V. Hedges joined the Northwestern faculty in 2005. He is one of eight Board of Trustees Professors at Northwestern, the university’s most distinguished academic position. He holds appointments in statistics, psychology and education and social policy. Previously, he was the Stella M. Rowley Professor at the University of Chicago. In 2018, Hedges received the Yidan Prize in Education Research, the world's largest education award.

Hedges's research straddles many fields — in particular those of sociology, psychology and educational policy. He is best known for his work to develop statistical methods for meta-analysis (a statistical analysis of the results of multiple studies that combines their findings) in the social, medical and biological sciences. It is a key component of evidence-based social research. Examples of some his recent studies include understanding the costs of generating systematic reviews, differences between boys and girls in mental test scores, the black-white gap in achievement test scores, and frameworks for international comparative studies on education.

Widely published, he has authored or co-authored numerous journal articles and eight books, including the seminal Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis (with I. Olkin) and The Handbook of Research Synthesis (with H. Cooper and J. Valentine).

He is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Statistical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Educational Research Association. He is a member of the National Education Sciences Board and president of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness. He was nominated by President Barack Obama to the Board of Directors for the National Board for Education Sciences and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in June 2012. He was recently elected 2013-14 Statistician of the Year by the Chicago chapter of the American Statistical Association.

Selected Presentations

Hedges, L.V.
(July, 2008).
Improving the generalization from meta-analysisImproving the generalization from meta-analysis.
Invited address at the annual meeting of the Society for Research Synthesis Methods.
Corfu, Greece.

Projects

Research Interests

Development and application of statistical methods for the social, medical, and biological sciences; evaluation research.

Service/Recognition

Professional Organizations

2008 - Present

American Educational Research AssociationFellow

2008 - Present

Society for Research Synthesis MethodsPresident

Society for Research on Educational EffectivenessCo-founderI am a co-founder of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, a new interdisciplinary professional society supporting rigorous research on education, which had its third annual meeting in 2009.

Professional Service

Year

Organization

Position

Description

2008

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Fellow

2006

US Institute of Education Science’s What Works Clearinghouse’s Technical Advisory Committee

Chair

2006

US Institute of Education Sciences (IES) standing grant review panel on math and science education research

Member

2006

Technical Executive Group to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)

Member

This group is an international nongovernmental organization that coordinates international comparative studies of educational achievement. The technical executive group advises the IEA General Assembly on standards for its research and on the technical adequacy of proposed and ongoing IEA studies.

2006

Technical Advisory Committee of the Organization on Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

Member

This program conducts comparative student assessment studies of reading, mathematics, and science literacy based on national probability samples of students in 28 OECD countries and about 20 other countries

2006

Russell Sage Foundation

Trustee

2006

Russell Sage Foundation

Member of the Board of Trustees

This group is the largest US foundation that exclusively supports basic research in the social sciences.

2006

OECD, PISA

Member, Technical Advisory Group

The Technical Advisory Group provides advice about the technical adequacy of the PISA program, the OECD's program of international comparative studies of literacy

Editorial Boards

Year

Journal Name

Position

2005

American Journal of Sociology

Associate Editor

Professional

Works In Progress

2008

Researchthe representation of results via effect size measures of cluster randomized experiments in education and social research and combination of these representations across experiments (supported by a grant form the US IES).
the planning of cluster randomized experiments in education and the development of reference values on population variance components to aid in that planning (supported by a grant from the US NSF).
the social distribution of talent, ability, and academic achievement (supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation)
the role of input effects in the development of language in young children via a longitudinal study of language development from age 12 months to 60 months (supported by a grant from the US NICHD)
the use of statistical ideas to incorporate uncertainty into models of cognition and spatial competence (supported by a grant from the US NSF).
the development of a society for the advancement of scientific research in education (supported by a grant form the US IES).
advanced training for established researchers in randomized field experiments in education (supported by the US IES).
training of post doctoral researchers in education research (supported by the US IES).